Design and implementation of templates for automatic code generation in the DSLModer4SaS tool

• Grant number: 23/15510-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2024
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Computer Science - Computing Methodologies and Techniques
• Principal Investigator: Frank José Affonso
• Grantee: Daniel de Almeida
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas (IGCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Currently, our society is increasingly dependent on software systems to perform daily tasks. Therefore, it is expected that such systems will also be capable of operating under uncertain conditions, without interruptions or human interventions. The causes of uncertainty include everything from changes in the operational environment to variations in the objectives/needs of its users. In this sense, self-adaptive systems (SaS) enable dealing with uncertainties by modifying their structures and/or behaviors at runtime. In parallel, Reference Architecture (RA) aims to capture the essence of similar system architectures, facilitating the development of concrete architectures for new systems, new system versions, or extensions of similar systems. Based on the exposed context, two ARs were designed by our research group in previous works, namely: (i)~RA4SaS (Reference Architecture for SaS); and (ii)~RA4Self-MobApps (Reference Architecture for Self-adaptive Service-oriented Mobile Applications). These architectures aim to support the SaS community and others interested in developing SaS/Self-MobApps supported by standardization and software engineering best practices. In this direction, it is worth highlighting that such two architectures have evolved and optimized since their conception, highlighting the implementation of a tool called DSLModeler4SaS carried out in the FAPESP project N. 2017/01703-6. In short, this tool enables the software engineer to create models of self-adaptive software entities using a Domain Specific Language (DSL) called "eLanguage"' (entity Language). Then, such models are transferred to the RA4SaS source code module so that code in the target language is generated. This tool has provided greater flexibility and better maintainability of self-adaptive software entities when a new application is instantiated for a new domain, as only new templates must be created for the software entities and their respective architecture. Aiming to expand the potential of this tool and the architectures developed in previous work by our research group, the main purpose of this project is to develop a set of templates that can be used in the development of SaS for different domains. Furthermore, this project also aims to enable a template repository to facilitate SaS development and boost the reuse of these templates in different systems/domains. Therefore, at the end of this project, the aim is to have an infrastructure that can be used by the DSLModeler4SaS tool to support the development of SaS, minimizing developers' efforts through the reuse of templates.